When eating out, childrens menus are a mixed bag. Some like Pizza Express tend to get them pretty spot on (although I’m not sure that N by the age of 10 will be satisfied with the kids menu) as do Bella Pasta with their 2 younger and older kids sizes. I also like places like Cotswold Wildlife Park who have sandwich lunch boxes, but hot meal options across the standard menu with small and larger choices at good prices. At… Continue Reading “Mozzarella Joe’s and the children’s menu giant pizza”
If you don’t have permanently hungry children at home, don’t be surprised if they turn into ravenous ‘hangry’ creatures when you go camping. There’s something about being in the great outdoors that makes everyone hungry. But with mealtime routines often more relaxed, sometimes you just need to pump them full of camping snacks. When we’re on holiday, we have more ice creams, and I’m also a bit more relaxed about snacks. Mainly because when we’re camping, although we take an… Continue Reading “10 tips for the best camping snacks”
In the past N hasn’t been a keen party goer. He’s gone along to some, to others he’s refused. And there’s always a time beforehand when he says he’s not going. But all parties so far were with lots of other children he knew. This week, N went to his first party where he didn’t know anyone other than the party boy. It was his old best friend from nursery and he was having a Pizza Express party. N had… Continue Reading “Pizza Express party confidence”
We love going camping with friends, but our camping food experiences have been very different. The first year we were keen and eager, grouping together to buy ingredients and then cook for everyone, with people taking the lead each evening. But it always seemed to be the same people doing the work, and cooking for up to 16 kids and then another 8-10 adults was manic. (Post contains affiliate links) So the second year we either sorted out own by… Continue Reading “Planning food for camping”
I really don’t deal with heat well. It’s obviously a family thing because our mum hated the hot weather (despite or maybe because of living in various hot countries as a child) and my brother despite tanning really easily, isn’t a fan either. It just makes me want to sit in a cold room somewhere and not do anything. But for the second year, Waddesdon Manor’s Feast has fallen on a super hot weekend. When I buy tickets in advance… Continue Reading “It’s too damn hot – day out at Feast Waddesdon Manor”
Anyone else have family who don’t get that excited about you trying different recipes? The OH isn’t a great fan of my new recipes, but sometimes you just have to try them, and they turn out well or not. For summer I hate being stuck in the kitchen cooking hot puddings, so we tend to have a lot of strawberries and ice cream, eton mess, quick easy fruit tarts etc. But I had some stand and stuff tortillas and thought… Continue Reading “Tortilla desserts – alternative uses for tortillas”
I admit, I love food. Plain food, not fussy posh restaurant food. Good simple meals, good quality food, with too much sweet stuff. It’s my failing. (I do have some food vices as well, but we’ll pass over that quickly) Recently I’ve noticed a lot of friends eating ‘strange’ food combinations for snacks or meals. And it got me thinking about the odd mix of flavours that I like. Hence the weird food combinations post. Because everyone has something a… Continue Reading “Weird food combinations that taste great”
I was never a fan of courgette as a child, and even now I’m not keen if it’s overcooked. Having it spiralised as courgette is delicious though and I’ll happily eat away on that raw with my bolognese. But my favourite way of cooking it has to be my Mediterranean courgettes bake. Adding tomato, cheese and herbs has to be divine. Even the OH likes it and he always moans about my cooking (it’s actually pretty good, it’s just he… Continue Reading “Mediterranean courgettes recipe”
I’m a big Mexican food fan, but it’s quite hard to come by if you’re eating out. But with a fussy OH (he’ll not eat indian, chinese, thai, risotto), I tend to stick to fajitas which he and N will eat. Well, N eats a wrap with cheese in, chicken on the side, raw peppers and no sour cream or guacamole. I’m hoping he’ll get more with the standard fajita programme if I keep feeding it to him enough. But… Continue Reading “Mexican lasagne – great for family or friends”
Whenever I get asked to make a pudding for something I’ve usually done Nigella’s trashy lime cheesecake. It’s failsafe, and everyone seems to love it. But when we go to friends’ houses with puddings, there’s always other lime puddings or cheesecakes. The same with my back up pavlovas or gooey chocolate brownies. But a couple of years ago at Christmas I discovered this Boozy cherry bakewell custard pudding. It was made as an alternative to christmas pudding, and went down… Continue Reading “Boozy cherry bakewell custard pudding”
